Dateline: New York, Yankee bride attempts to make Southern dinner for her TN husband.

PART ONE: 2 posts in one day!! Yeah for you :)

Will she succeed. The outlook is grim.

I tried to make Stephen a nice Southern meal as a surprise today.

Fried Chicken (this I am quite good at but, I ran out of apple cider vinegar so I had to use malt vinegar instead... eek I hope that works)

Cheesy Grits. I bought some pre-made ones and Stephen said, "no self-respecting Southerner would ever make premade grits. But, I am a Yankee so he'll deal. When I told my Mother-in-law they were premade there was a gasp and a silent pause on the other end of the phone!! ha ha

biscuits. These were last minute. I just used Bisquick. Hope they are tasty.

and I even made sweet tea. Although I looked an looked for a good one online and I all of them said 3-4 family sized tea bags. I have never in my life heard of them. Go ahead. I know all the southern belles are snickering. "she's never heard of a family sized tea bag". Well no. I buy powdered iced tea. So there.

I will update y'all when he gets home. And I just forgot I had to pick him up at the train tonight. So I better get my butt going.

I hope he doesn't expect red velvet for dessert!!












PART TWO: Stephen's response.



Pardon my typing ladies, I'm hopped up on the sweetest sweet tea north of the mason-dixon line.



Here's my grading of the Yankee bride's attempt at a southern meal. Each part of the meal will be ranked on a 5-star scale with 5 stars being the best.

Sweet Tea (****) - Tricia surprised me with this. She could have also served mint juleps or even RC Cola, but she went to the tried and true southern speciality. 1 part tea and 25 parts sugar. Nothing washes food down on a hot southern day like a glass of this nectar of the hillbilly gods (Dale Earnhardt and the lead singer of Lynyrd Skynyrd). Tricia nailed this, the only thing that kept her from getting the 5th star is that she must have stuck her finger in it, because it was almost too sweet.

Biscuits (***) - Bisquick and milk, shove in oven. This recipe is so simple an idiot could make it (like when I made it for Tricia a few weeks ago for breakfast). These were good, especially with some of the fried chicken in the middle. Had she gone the extra mile and made it from scratch...milled the flour and all...well I'd better stop before I spend the night on the couch.

Cheesy Grits (****) - I have never had cheesy grits before. Let me allow you to catch your breath. I have had plenty of grits before: plain, with salt, with butter, with lots and lots of butter, and with salt and butter. However Tricia also hit this dish out of the park. I like cheesy grits. These were not the best grits I'd ever had, ironically the best grits I've ever had was not at a Waffle House in Tennessee. Nope, they were right here on Long Island in Huntington at a place called Cooke's In (they also serve fried chicken with pancakes - genius).

Fried Chicken (*****) - Tricia usually burns her fried chicken and fills the house with smoke. Ahh, I know when she makes fried chicken because all the windows are open and our house looks like the green room at a Phish concert. Not this time, the chicken was moist, perfect. To hear that she also ran out of an ingredient is equally impressive. Getting fried chicken right is a science and I am lucky enough to marry someone who got it right!

Enough typing, I am going to sit on the couch and be fat.